


sketches of you

by tusktooth



Series: pride 2020 [8]
Category: Runaways (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Crushes, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-22
Updated: 2020-06-22
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:27:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,206
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24863803
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tusktooth/pseuds/tusktooth
Summary: Xavin was slowly becoming obsessed with the girl with the paint-stained fingers.
Relationships: Karolina Dean/Xavin
Series: pride 2020 [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1772290
Comments: 2
Kudos: 10





	sketches of you

**Author's Note:**

> yes i still have xavolina and their epic romance on my mind in 2020 what about it  
> [find me on tumblr](http://adaine.tumblr.com/)

Xavin was slowly becoming obsessed with the girl with the paint-stained fingers.

It wasn’t like they had been following her around or anything creepy like that, it was just that they both tended to sit in the quad around the same time every day so that Xavin could study and the girl could sketch under the shade of a tree across the way. She was distracting, though, and Xavin found themself watching her more than once.

The girl was beautiful, with long blonde hair flowing down her shoulders, which had been lightly tanned from the California sun. Her bright eyes were a dazzling blue so pure that Xavin could make out the color from a great distance. She was stylish too, but in a different way from a lot of the other girls on campus because her style was a combination of modern and retro, with her brightly colored crop tops and bell-bottom jeans. When it was cooler, she wore a thin white jean jacket with a pin on the lapel with the pinks and oranges of the lesbian pride flag.

She was popular too. It seemed that almost every day she had a new person with her. Most often, it was the goth girl but there was also a girl with purple hair, a guy with long blonde hair, a younger girl, a nerdy-looking dark-skinned boy, and a few others.

Xavin was a bit jealous of that, as they didn’t have many friends here in California. They were a transfer student, new this semester. As neither a freshman nor a local, it had proven difficult to find people to spend time with. But that was fine, mostly, they were here to study anyway, even if they did long to speak with the beautiful girl with the paint-stained fingers.

Not that they wanted to be the girl’s friend necessarily, though friendship would certainly be acceptable. What they had been developing was a bit of a crush, which was bizarre given that they hadn’t historically been prone to having that many crushes and they didn’t even know the girl’s name. Still, they imagined a world where they didn’t have to sit across the quad and gaze from afar, but instead sit together, chatting and laughing and running their fingers through her soft blonde hair.

One day, the girl forgot her sketchbook when packing up her bag. It was a bit surprising, as it was the only thing that she ever used when she was there, other than her pencils and maybe a snack, but she forgot it nonetheless. Xavin considered shouting after her, telling her that she left it behind, but they became too nervous when they realized that doing so would alert the girl to the person that had been watching her.

Fifteen minutes passed and a boy went to pick the sketchbook up and Xavin stormed toward him.

“That’s not yours,” they said, crossing their arms over their chest.

He raised an eyebrow. “Is it yours?”

They shook their head. “It belongs to a friend. She got up to go to the bathroom and asked me to watch her things for her.”

“Oh really,” the boy replied with a smug look on his face. “Then what’s her name?”

The boy obviously wasn’t nearly as intelligent as he seemed to think he was because the girl’s name was drawn in thin cursive on the cover of the sketchbook.

“Karolina,” they replied. “They’re an art student here. I can call campus security if you’d like, get things squared away.”

“Jesus Christ,” the boy muttered as they dropped the book on the ground. “It’s just a fucking sketchbook.”

This time, Xavin picked it up and took it back to where they had been studying. If Karolina or any of her friends showed back up looking from it, they would simply give it to them and explain what happened.

Except nobody ever did come and they ended up having to take it home, which wasn’t something that they wanted to do but seemed like the only way to keep it safe. They could just give it back tomorrow, after all.

Except it rained the next day, and the following day too. It was another  _ week _ until they were able to return to the quad to study and, by then, Karolina had probably purchased a new sketchbook. Xavin felt terrible for now calling out to her when they had the chance.

But when they do return to the quad, the girl with the paint-stained fingers isn’t sketching in a new book but, rather, loose pieces of paper that wouldn’t lay flat because of the wind.

Xavin pulled the sketchbook out of their bag and came up to the girl, clearing their throat.

Karolina looked up at them, blue eyes somehow brighter than before. “Oh, it’s you.”

They didn’t know how to reply to that so instead, they held the sketchbook out to her. “You left this here last time and I didn’t want it to get ruined, so I picked it up for you.”

“Thanks,” she replied, face flushing bright red. “You didn’t happen to, uh, look at my sketches, did you?”

Xavin raised their eyebrows. “Certainly not. I didn’t want to intrude on your privacy, just save your book.”

“Oh well, in that case, nevermind,” she said with a relieved sigh. “I’m Karolina, by the way.”

“I knew that, actually,” they replied, pointing to her name on the cover. “And I’m Xavin.”

“Well, it’s nice to meet you Xavin,” she said with a smile. “Would you like to sit with me?”

They nodded and the pair of them worked together in silence. It was comforting, just sharing space with another person, even with no conversation involved. None of Karolina’s friends came that day, which was a bit of a blessing, as Xavin wasn’t sure they were ready to face another stranger.

“Do you want to see them?” Karolina asked after about an hour had passed.

“What?” they asked, unsure of what they meant.

“My sketches,” she explained. “I mean, you saved them for me, so I feel like I should show them to you. Just don’t judge me, please.”

“I won’t,” they promised.

Karolina opened the book to a specific sketch and turned it toward them. Xavin was surprised to find that it was a sketch of them, brown skin shaded delicately in colored pencil, their hair falling into their face as they were focused on a book, one that they remembered reading a few weeks back.

She bit her lip. “There’s a lot more of these. I’m sorry that I’ve been drawing you without permission.”

Xavin’s eyes widened in surprise. “You’ve been watching me too?”

“I-” she started. “Yeah. I never realized that you were looking, though.”

Xavin nodded. “How could I not? You’re beautiful.”

Karolina blushed. “Compared to you, hardly. You’re pretty attractive, Xavin. I mean, have you seen your biceps?”

“And have you seen your eyes?”

She laughed. “We’ve really been wasting all this time staring from afar, haven’t we?”

“I suppose so,” they said with a smile.

“So what do you say?” Karolina asked. “Do you want to go out sometime?”

“I’d love that,” Xavin replied, taking one of her paint-stained hands into their own


End file.
